Buzykid

My Feedback: (2)

I have about 2 years of High School CAD experience, and I am looking to scratch build on some spare time. I am building my second airplane right now from scratch, but had no plans on either just kind of went with it. What is a good programs that I can fool around with and design some stuff with out having to take a a second mortgage to buy the software. I also want one that can convert to whatever file most laser cutters are using.


Thanks

Ryan

BMatthews

Oh boy, I get to be first so my post counts for more....

TurboCAD by IMSI is my weapon of choice. It normally saves to it's own file format of .tcw but it also can save as .dwg and .dxf and a few others as well. At around or just under 100$ I think it's a steal. As a bonus you'll get lots of SPAM (but NICE spam) from them to try and get you to upgrade as each new version comes out. It's worth it though as the upgrades they offer to previous buyers are a very good deal. Usually around $50 for the basic version. There's a pro level package that's really into the 3D rendered pics and stuff but it's in the $400 range and way more than we need for model plans.

As far as I know the laser cutter companies will want either .dwg or .dxf files so you've got that covered.

The other big budget software that's darn good from what I saw of my short time with the demo is IntelliCAD at around $150US I believe.

I'm pretty sure that anything with comparable capabilities starts at well over the $200 mark and goes up QUICKLY from there.

clscale-RCU

My Feedback: (7)

I have used Cadam, Catia and Pro-Engineer at work and these programs are very powerful but also very expensive. You can get the Student edition of Pro-Engineer for a low cost but it is aimed at the 3-D modeling area, and can do drawings but is best suited for 3-D modeling. If you want to do some sophiscated 3-D models Pro-E is a good choice, not the easiest thing to learn, but worth trying. THe Student edition of Pro-E I have on my home computer has enough bells and whistles for any 3-D cad guru. It can also do drawings but they are based upon the 3-D model, a departure from most traditional thinking. Most CAD drawings I have found are mostly 2-D based and have 3-D as an after thought.

I am considering buying a program from www.upperspace.com
called DesignCad 3-D max and you can buy this for about $70 from www.outpost.com. from everything I have read and after talking with someone who has used it I have considering buying, it also has one big advantage.

I need to take Bitmap images of 3-views of full size aircraft and import them into a CAD program to create scale drawings. After importing the Bitmap you use the Bitmap to retrace the outline with Scanpro or do it manually. CAD programs such as Pro-E can import in DXF but not Bitmap. While you can convert Bitmap to DXF you won't like the results unless there is some program that don't know about.

Bitmap is a raster image and DXF has vectors.

Cad programs:

www.upperspace.com

Where to get DesignCad 3-D max ($70)

www.outpost.com

Hope this helps

phuffstatler

My Feedback: (20)

Fred, Upperspace has just sold DesignCad to IMSI, the TurboCad people..... It's still out there, but will come with the IMSI tag from now on. We have been promised support from IMSI, but I have no idea what all that means for the DesignCad world. It may stay a viable product, or it may be rolled into TurboCad.

I own DesignCad 3DMax myself. I'm still struggling with it, as I seem to be CAD-Stupid, despite a long carreer in the IT world. I sure need to buck up and learn it, to complete some projects I'm working on. Perhaps this winter....



phil in austin

CoosBayLumber

My Feedback: (1)

Wasn't any mention as to what system you were trained on, but Bruce is pretty sharp on all this and knows this subject has been beat up quite a bit over past year now. My thought here is not to endorse any CAD system but make you aware of the considerations to investigate before buying the software. It doesn't matter whatever system you choose from those noted above (remembering to stay away from anyone with "Model"or "Cheapest" somewhere in the title) but the system HAS to be native Autocad DWG format compatible. Buy compatibility -Direct- into this format, not through some "conversion". With tens of thousands of software boxes throughout the world now, this had become by default the talking standard. Forget the DXF output, as this is a come-on for a crappy appearing output, which is compatible, but now with different line qualitys and confusing protocols to which even Autodesk cannot state compatibility anymore. If you have ever downloaded one of the free model A/C files from the internet, they often come in this format, and when you plot these out, you will readily see to what quality the format is. The above noted CAD systems in 2D mode will talk direct back and forth with Autodesk products.

For whatever brand your are thinking about doing, the output HAS to be Autocad R-12 compatible. This is an old standard but mainly it is a line quality file format which will readily import quickly into most of the machine tool operating systems out there. The vendor may say they prefer work in R-14 format, however an R-12 will convert in a matter of a few seconds. The big thing here is most often concerns text standards between the TrueType fonts and those like the SHX styles.

Although it may not be all of the information to which you are looking for take a look at the following for some reference into your future project:

www.mybloo.com/coosbay/laser/laser.html



Wm.

Mike James

I'm fifth, so my post only counts 20%... or is that logarithmic? Anyway:

There a many programs that will let you create nice visual images of planes, and even test-fit equipment and parts, etc..

The issue the other guys mentioned comes when you want to create full-size plans, or laser-cutting patterns. AutoCad is the standard it seems, and trust me, you don't want to mess with raster to vector, if you can avoid it.

I usually use the photography analogy, when asked this question... "Use what you want to end up with", meaning that if you want slides, use slide film. If you want prints, use print film. Same for CAD. If you want industry-standard files for plans or laser cutting, you will have to spend some $$.

(I don't use my 3D software for that, so I use "Carrara Studio" from http://www.eovia.com )

Highflight

My Feedback: (4)

Here's post number 6, worth 16.6666%.

Do a search using CAD terms in RCU and you'll discover some really involved threads that have gone before you.
We're all going to tell you the same thing we've told others anyway so you might as well read what we've already said in other threads.
Bit time saver

Highflight

oldcabmkr

My Feedback: (127)

Saving files from a cad system to be able to use on or with a laser is difficult if the system doesn't generate a g-code. The makers of lasers use there file formats and all don't use the same. Some guys doing laser work use cad along with Corel Draw to convert files, but it depends on the file format for the laser being used. I have always used AutoCad for designs and emailed the parts file to laser cutters with dimensions on the parts so that when the file is converted it can checked to see if the size is the same. I haven't had any bad parts from the guy I use and everything is cut great and he doesn't ship the extra waste wood only the parts.
Good Luck
Doug

CoosBayLumber

My Feedback: (1)

OLDCABMKR:

Am familiar with the laser cutting machine languages. L.M.I. is big user in the G-code language operating system. Many others run on HP-GL or HP-GL2 which are both languages used to operate on plotters. These two are about 85% of the professional market. The HP-GL can be spit out direct while in Autocad, however the G-code (on mine) takes a secondary conversion software.


Wm.